Market Street inbound, near Sixth Street – the place where white women will soon be trying on fragile, expensive shoes:
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Now you’d think Twitter might want to have more bus stops in the corrupt Twitterloin, but the Twitter Express #1 (privately-funded) and the Twitter Express #2 (publicly-funded) both avoid this area when coming and going to and from the CalTrain station.
Oh well.
With love from Japan comes MUJI.
It‘ll be your new favorite store.
Your free “My Bag” won’t be as lilac as this, but it will contain a free goodie for you, assuming you’re one of the first 1000 customers on Nov 30th:
All the deets:
“MUJI SOMA will open on November 30, 2012.
New York, NY, November 14th, 2012, MUJI U.S.A. LIMITED announces its opening date of SOMA store, which has been set to November 30, 2012, the first MUJI store to open on the West coast. Located at 540 9th street, San Francisco, MUJI SOMA will open from 11:00a.m. to 8:00p.m. during its first day of operation.
With approximately 7,250 square feet of retail floor space, MUJI’s first store on the West coast will offer over 2,000 items of MUJI products, including about 1,700 items of Household and 300 items of Apparels. After the first day of opening, the store will open regularly from 10:30a.m. to 8:00p.m. from Monday to Saturday, 11:00a.m. to 6:30p.m. on Sundays.
Giveaways for the opening day
MUJI is dedicated to reducing waste and conserving resources. In this spirit, MUJI encourages its customers to use My Bag in order to reduce waste that results from the use of paper or plastic bags at MUJI store. For its special giveaways, MUJI will offer an exclusive My Bag with map of San Francisco for the first 1,000 customers who come to the store on the opening day. There will be a MUJI gift inside of the bag. MUJI plain My Bag will be offered starting at $1 after the opening.
For further information, please contact: press@muji.com
MUJI offers good quality products at reasonable prices, which include a wide variety of stationeries, household items and apparel. Mujirushi Ryohin, MUJI in Japanese, translates as “no-brand quality goods”. The value of the MUJI product is in its effectiveness without the renowned brand or designer name. The essence of MUJI products lies in its simplicity, flexibility and modesty to fit different life styles and individual preferences. MUJI, originally founded in Japan, does not direct its products to be affected by any trends and “isms”, rather does aim to be universally relevant. MUJI products maintain reasonable price levels, not by compromising quality, but by avoiding the waste typical of many products’ manufacturing and distribution in the form of unnecessary functionality, an excess of decoration, and needless packaging.
MUJI U.S.A. LIMITED is the U.S. subsidiary of Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd. which is MUJI’s corporate entity incorporated in Japan. Since its founding in 1980, MUJI has expanded around the world and has 372 stores in Japan, 163 stores in other countries (as of Feb, 2012) including Asia, Europe. Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd., is a publicly owned company traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker number: 7453) with $2.2 billion in sales in 2011.”
OK fine.
This is what outreach looks like:
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I don’t know, I think if I wanted another shopping bag I’d hustle over to Costco and get four big-ass bags for like $4-something.
I mean, play big or stay home, right?
Anyway, SFGov had some events where they’d give away a bunch of bags but I couldn’t figure out when/where on the official website so I didn’t tell you all about it.
And I’ll tell you, I’m already buying less stuff per shopping trip owing to the bag ban, but that’s just me. Pretty soon, I’ll remember to schlep around with more bags more better…
And I’ll tell you, I don’t want to know what neo-corporate logos are on the bags themselves, you know, paid for by the Chubb Group or whatehaveyou.
I think I’m saying no thanks to your worthless freebie shopping bags, SFGov.
Here they are:
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[UPDATE: Upon further review, these aren't Chinese naval uniforms after all:
At first I thought they could have been from the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy.
And oh, look what's on the PLAN's to-do list:
See that? In addition to taking over Japanese islands (the Senkakus and others), the neo-Imperial Chinese Navy wants to take over Vietnamese, Malaysian, Filipino, and Bruneian islands as well. And don't forget about Taiwan.
But we're being visited by a South Korean ship so it's all good.]
At the very least, you owe it to yourself to read the Yelp and ApartmentRatings reviews before you move in.
Oh look, they have a shuttle bus – it’s a like a private MUNI #38 Geary just for you and your fellow victims:
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But even so, Whatever You Do, DON’T Move Into the Fillmore Center Apartment Homes at 1475 Fillmore in the Western Addition.
In closing, Whatever You Do, DON’T Move Into the Fillmore Center Apartment Homes at 1475 Fillmore in the Western Addition.
PS: Whatever You Do, DON’T Move Into the Fillmore Center Apartment Homes at 1475 Fillmore in the Western Addition
Bad News: It’s all in pieces in a shopping cart driven by a man with all sorts of tools at hand.
See?
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That’s how it goes on the Mean Streets of San Francisco, the innovation capital of the world, or something.
[UPDATE - Here's the official spiel:
"Icebreaker makes Outdoor, Running, Cycling, Travel, Kids, Underwear and Lifestyle apparel from handpicked merino wool born in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. It's non-itch, easy to wash, lightweight, versatile, easily packable and no-stink (because merino is naturally anti-mircrobrial, you can wear it for days ow weeks without a wash).
Sustainability has been part of Icebreaker's ethos since the start. It has strict animal welfare and farm standards, and has a traceability program (called "Baacode") that enables people to use a unique code sewn inside their garment to trace the fiber back to the sheep stations that grew it all the way through its supply chain."
And OMG, it's "Ramotaur" and "Nature Girl" on the streets of SF:
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And one last thing:
"Ramotar will be appearing next weekend Friday, Saturday, Sunday, 12/2-12/4, 12pm-3pm, fliers in key SF locales, Union Square, Embarcadero, Ferry Building, etc. Also Friday and Saturday, 12/9-12/10, 12pm-3pm in the same locales."
O.K. then.]
So Icebreaker is that fashionable merino wool store from New Zealand where actor Orlando Bloom goes shopping for woolens…
… sometimes along with his gf, model Miranda Kerr:
Well guess what, this was the week that Icebreaker opened its first “TouchLab” store in Northern California. It’s down at 170 Post in Union Square.
See?
OMG, is that a wool chandelier?
All right, find out about the landlord, Grosvenor Americas, after the jump.
See you there!
This is unprecedented.
This is the City Family extending the Market Street lighted Christmas snowflake zone all the way to Mid-Market.
See?
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They used to stop at 5th Street, but now they don’t – they go farther this year.
Hurray!
Won’t this please our corporate overlords at Twitter? (Probably not, but, you know, can’t hurt to try.)
All right, come to the annual lighting ceremony with the Mayor this Thursday evening, if you want:
“Snowflakes on Market – Lighting Ceremony
Nov. 17, 2011 through mid-January 2012
More than 140 five-foot-wide energy-saving LED illuminated snowflakes will decorate Market Street’s signature “Path of Gold” light poles this winter from Second to Sixth streets. A lighting ceremony, featuring dancers from the San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker, is scheduled for Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. near the cable car turnaround at Powell and Market streets. The event is free and open to the public. For information, visit www.marketstreetassociation.org.
It will go a little something like this, probably.
Dixitque Gavin fiat lux, et facta est lux:
Those are Nutcracker-starring “Snowflakes” from the San Francisco Ballet. (The run starts up again December 9th this year.) Jessica Carter is the snowflake in the middle, so I’m told.
Happy Holidays!
I know some people who have been just waiting for this kind of thing from Icebreaker, that fashion dahling of the Hahvard Business Review.
Best of all, each piece of clothing comes with its own Baacode, so ewe can trace your purchase back to the Southern Alps of New Zealand.
All the deets here, and below.
Who’ll win this one? She has the reach but his posture tells you he wants it more:
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“Icebreaker Brings a Touch of New Zealand to the Heart of San Francisco - New Zealand merino wool apparel company’s first San Francisco store will launch November 21, prior to the grand opening of a full build-out in March 2012
Wellington, New Zealand (7 November 2011) – Icebreaker, the New Zealand company that pioneered the merino wool adventure apparel category, today announced it would “break the ice” in San Francisco with the opening of a retail store in San Francisco on November 21, 2011, just in time for the holidays. The Icebreaker store will be located at 170 Post Street, between Grant and Kearny Streets, just one block from Union Square.
San Franciscans will be in introduced to Icebreaker in two phases. The 1600 square foot location’s initial iteration will feature the complete Icebreaker line, showcasing its Outdoor, Running, Cycling, Travel, Kids, Underwear and City collections, all made from handpicked merino wool born in the Southern Alps of New Zealand.
In March 2012 the space will be fully built-out as a “TouchLab” store. A TouchLab store enables shoppers to touch Icebreaker raw merino fiber, as well as the various weights of apparel Icebreaker makes, and experience the pleasure of pure, soft, breathable merino, which offers instant warmth, coolness in the summer, is sun safe and antimicrobial and can be machine washed.
“People in San Francisco love the outdoors and have a great appreciation for nature and natural products, so this area is the perfect location for our newest TouchLab,” said Jeremy Moon, Icebreaker’s founder and CEO. “San Franciscans are our ideal customer: savvy shoppers who appreciate apparel that looks as fantastic as it performs.
“Icebreaker is perfect for the Bay Area climate. Merino wool performs beautifully anywhere, be it on the slopes of Tahoe, during a bike ride through Wine Country or on a summer evening in the city.”
Natural, sustainably produced Icebreaker merino regulates body temperature in all climates, is highly breathable to prevent the clamminess associated with synthetics, and protects wearers from the sun’s harmful rays. It’s also no stink, resisting odour and wearable for days – sometimes weeks – without washing.
Icebreaker opened its flagship TouchLab store in New York City in December 2010 and also has TouchLab stores on the West Coast in Portland, Oregon (home of its US headquarters) and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It also has a TouchLab in Montréal, Canada. The Icebreaker San Francisco pop-up store will be open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.- 8p.m., and Sundays, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., (415) 399-9615.
“New Zealand’s merinos produce a wool that has a very fine diameter, which makes it soft and breathable yet with high insulation value for warmth.”
– TIME magazine
“The thin construction leverages wool’s breathability and natural wicking properties, so you don’t suffocate when a run heats up.”
– Runner’s World
“It wicks like a champ and is as comfortable as cotton.”
– Backpacker magazine
Icebreaker Clothing
Launched in 1994, Icebreaker was the first company in the world to develop a merino fibre layering system for the outdoors. It was also the first outdoor apparel company in the world to source merino directly from growers, a system it began in 1997. The Icebreaker apparel system includes underwear, mid layer garments, outerwear, socks and accessories. There are outdoor, technical and lifestyle categories, each with its own specific fabrics and design details. Icebreaker is sold in more than 3000 stores in 43 countries.Based in Wellington, New Zealand, Icebreaker uses only pure merino handpicked from 140 high country stations in the country’s Southern Alps to create adventure clothing for women, men and kids that combines nature’s work with human technology and design. The company is committed to sustainability, ethical manufacturing and animal welfare. In 2008 the company launched “Icebreaker Baacode,” a pioneering supply chain transparency and traceability program. Each Icebreaker includes a unique Baacode, which enables customers to trace the garment online from rearing the sheep through to each stage of the supply chain process.”
The next best thing to foot binding?*
I mean, how can you roundhouse the typical Union Square/Twitterloin mugger/iPhone** thief with these things on?
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Clip clop clip clop…
Haven’t we been bound too long?
*”The ideal length for a bound foot was seven and a half centimetres” – that’s Wiki-talk for less than three inches, girlfriend.
**First the felonious MUNI riders came for the iPhone owners and I didn’t speak out, for I had the Android…
